The present invention relates to a distribution system for supplying a solid fuel, particularly refuse, to a furnace or boiler.
With today's shortage of conventional fuels, and society's ever-increasing demand for energy, the burning of both industrial and municipal refuse as fuel is receiving increasing attention by industries and municipalities. Many types of combustible solid waste can be utilized as a fuel and burned within steam generators to produce steam power for heating, processing, and electrical power generation. Waste products such as wood waste, municipal refuse and garbage, industrial refuse, ect., are excellent fuel sources, and are being burned as a fuel in ever-increasing quantities. These refuse fuels have considerable calorific value when burned. Thus, refuse that would otherwise be wasted can create worthwhile savings in purchased fuel and eliminate costly refuse disposal measures.
Numerous types of fuel distribution systems have been proposed for supplying fuel to a furnace, many of which have been specially disigned for handling particular types of refuse. The type of fuel distribution system to which the present invention pertains generally comprises a plurality of supply chutes for feeding the fuel into the furnace. Typically, such systems include a single oscillating chute for distributing the refuse fuel conveyed from the fuel supply to each of the supply chutes. Maintaining a constant and adequate fuel supply throughout the furnace, however, can become a problem with such distribution systems, particularly when incinerating lightweight refuse fuel such as shredded paper waste, because of the tendency of the material to float, and also to clog the system if supplied at too fast a rate. In addition, since light material burns very fast, if the fuel supply is not constant, ignition can be lost. This is particularly true with gravity-fed systems.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved gravity-fed fuel distribution system that is adapted to maintain a substantially uniform and adequate supply of fuel, even lightweight refuse, throughout the furnace. In general, the present refuse fuel distribution system includes a novel dual swinging spout assembly that is adapted to evenly distribute fuel to a plurality of supply chutes that feed a corresponding plurality of air-swept distributor spouts which inject the fuel along with combustion air into the furnace. The swinging spout assembly comprises a pair of reciprocating spouts mounted on a horizontal axis that are adapted to swing back and forth in opposed fashion so as to distribute fuel successively into each of the supply chutes. The use of dual-reciprocating spouts operating in opposite directions provides the present fuel distribution system with the ability to maintain a much more constant fuel supply to the furnace than with a single oscillating chute, particularly with lightweight refuse such as shredded paper. Thus, with a more constant supply of fuel, the problems of fuel clogging and lost ignition are substantially eliminated.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment which makes reference to the following set of drawings in which :